Attorney General Moody Secures $300 Million Following Investigation into Improper Marketing and Sale of Suboxone
Attorney General Ashley Moody News Release
Attorney General Moody Secures $300 Million Following Investigation into Improper Marketing and Sale of Suboxone
Attorney General Ashley Moody said, “The opioid epidemic is claiming the lives of Floridians every day. It is reprehensible that these companies would prey on those recovering from opioid addiction to earn a dishonest dollar. Even more disturbing, they exploited the taxpayer-funded Medicaid program to get the job done. Thanks to my Medicaid Fraud Control Unit and the Department of Justice, these companies are being held accountable and relief will go to the government health care programs affected by these aggressive and predatory tactics.”
As a result of the investigation, Indivior will pay a total sum of $300 million to resolve various civil-fraud allegations impacting Medicaid and other government health care programs—with more than $203 million going to Medicaid. Florida’s Medicaid share of the nationwide recovery is approximately $1.3 million.
The investigation arose from six separate qui tam actions filed in the U.S. District Courts for the Western District of Virginia and the District of New Jersey. The agreement resolves allegations that Indivior directly or through its subsidiaries:
- Promoted the sale and use of Suboxone to physicians who were writing prescriptions that were not for a medically accepted indication in that they lacked a legitimate medical purpose, were issued without any counseling or psychosocial support, were for uses that were unsafe, ineffective, medically unnecessary and often diverted;
- Knowingly promoted the sale or use of Suboxone Sublingual Film based on false and misleading claims that SSF was less subject to diversion and abuse than other buprenorphine products and that SSF was less susceptible to accidental pediatric exposure than Suboxone Sublingual Tablets; and
- Submitted a petition to the Food and Drug Administration, fraudulently claiming that Suboxone Tablet had been discontinued due to safety concerns about the tablet formulation of the drug and took other steps to fraudulently delay the entry of generic competition for various forms of Suboxone in order to improperly control pricing of Suboxone, including pricing to the states’ Medicaid programs.
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The Florida Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit investigates and prosecutes providers that intentionally defraud the state’s Medicaid program through fraudulent billing practices. Medicaid fraud essentially steals from Florida’s taxpayers. From January 2019 to the present, Attorney General Moody’s MFCU has obtained more than $68 million in settlements and judgments. Additionally, the MFCU investigates allegations of patient abuse, neglect and exploitation in facilities receiving payments under the Medicaid program. The Florida MFCU is funded through a grant totaling $26,329,510, for Federal Fiscal Year 2021, from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services—Office of Inspector General. The Federal Share of these funds is 75% totaling $19,747,136. The State Matching Share of these funds is 25% totaling $6,582,374 and is funded by Florida.Legal Disclaimer:
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